Chest of drawers



Patented Jan. 13, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE Qji Frank P. Mitten. neamm s, Calif. Application September 10, 1949, Serial No. 115,042 i ,1 claim; (01.1312-270) This invention relates to storage cabinets or chests of drawers and more particularly to chests of the type having a plurality of drawers for the storage of small articles requiring a large number of relatively shallow drawers.

The objects of the invention are to provide a cabinet or chest of drawers which is economically constructed from a minimum of parts, which is easily and quickly assembled, and in which the drawers are substantially dust-proof so as to is a sectional view through the-front portion of the cabinet showing the rear end of one of the drawers in its relation to the front end of one of the separators;

Fig. 6 is a broken side elevation of one of the separators as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a similar view of a modified form of separator;

Fig. 8 is a front elevation detail showing the junction of one separator with a side panel; and

Fig. 9 is a side elevation showing another form of separator front edge formation.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the chest of drawers comprises four principal elements, a rectangular wooden casing open at front and back consisting of side panels In and II, a top panel l2 and a bottom panel 14; a set of sheet metal separators 15; a set of drawers I 6; and a back panel l8.

The side panels [0 and H are provided adjacent their top and bottom edges with grooves If! to receive the tongues 20 on the top and bottom panels, these four panels preferably being made of ply-wood of suitable thickness, for example, about 1%" thick, and being glued together at their jointed edges.

The side panels are also provided on their opposed inner surfaces with spaced apart horizontally aligned grooves 2| which extend straight through from front to back, the first groove at the top being placed immediately underneath the bottom surface of the top panel I2 and the last groove at the bottom spaced from the bottom panel by the depth of one drawer.

The separators are formed from sheet metal which is fiat except at its rear end where it is provided with a downwardly turned flange 22 which forms a right angle with the body 24 and is co-extensive with the width of said body por-,

tion. The forward edge of the separator is folded over on itself throughout its width, preferably twice as shown at 25 in Fig. 6, and, if desired,

a greater number of times for increased strength as shown at 26 in Fig. 7. Immediately'underlying the forward folded edge ofthe separators they are provided with a forwardly extending lip 28 which may be a part of a sheet metal strip which is twice bent at right angles throughout its length, first downwardly at 29 and then forwardly at 30, the-rear portion 3| of said strip being spot welded to the underside of the'body 24 of the separator. Alternatively, .thellip may 'be formed by folding the material of the separator forwardly after .it is. bent back-on itself.

- Fig. 9 shows such a construction in which the lip 28' is formed .from'the doubled over front edge of the separator sheet structure, y

24, making a very rigid edge The grooves 2| in the side Walls are of just sufiicient width to receive the folded edge portion 25 or 26 so that the separators may be inserted in the assembled wooden cabinet from the rear. The length of the separators is such that when the rear flange 22 engages the rear faces of the side walls I!) and II, the forward edge of the separator is in alignment with the forward edges of the cabinet.

Each drawer I6 is made from a single sheet of metal with a flat bottom 34, upturned side walls 35 and 36, rear wall 38 and front wall 39. The front wall is provided at its top edge with an inwardly turned tongue 40 which is so dimensioned as substantially to fill the space between the front end 25 of the separator and the lip 28 attached thereto or formed thereon.

The strip of metal of which the li 28 is a part is of such length as to enter freely between the side walls 35 and 38 of the drawers, and is therefore somewhat narrower than the body 24 of the separators, as may be seen in Fig. 8, and the tongue 40 which extends rearwardly parallel to the bottom 34 of the drawer is approximately in alignment with the top edges of its side walls. The separators are so spaced in the cabinet relative to the depth of the drawers that the top edges of the side and rear walls of the drawers are spaced from the overlying separators by the 3 thickness of the sheet metal strip 3|. The relative thickness dimensions of all of these sheet metal parts are greatly exaggerated in the drawings for the sake of clarity, which makes the clearances appear larger than they are in actual 5 practice.

The assembly of wooden cabinet and sheet metal separators is held together after insertion of the separators by vapplication of the rear panel [8 which is screwed tightly torthe rear faces of 10:

the side, top and bottom walls, and locks the separators in place by engagement with the rear flanges 22. The thickness of the latter flanges is so slight in actual practice that the backlpanel' may be pulled into contact with therear facesil of the cabinet around its edges, forming a dustproof joint. The flat drawerbottoms.slidefree 1y on the upper surfaces of the separators and the upper front and rear edges of eachdrawer are sealed in a dust-proof manner by reason of the overlappingrelation of I'thetongues 40V and the lips 28 andthe overhanging of the drawers at theback by'the fianges22.

Referring to Fig. '5, it will be noted that when a drawer is pullednearly all the way 'out, its 25 rear wall'38 engages thevertical portion of the sheet metal member which providesthe .lip 28,

as shown in full lines in Fig: 5. In thisposition, the drawer bottom ireststagainst thefolded reinforced-edge 25 of the separator. drawers completely it is' necessarygonly to lift their .front ends -to tilt the drawer to the dotted line position'of Fig. 15 so that the rear *wall is disengaged from saidsheet metal member.

While the invention has been described-by reference to thexdetails-of theillustrative embodiment; it-is to be understood: thatit is not limited thereto but is to gbeconstrued broadly within the purview of the;c1ai,m;

What is claimed;- is:

Achest of drawers comprising a; rectangular wooden frame having sidewalls of -substantial thickness and a top anda'bottom; said:sidewalls having: spaced apart alined grooves but in: their opposed inside surfaces and extendingparallelito said top, sheet-metal separators extendingacross To remove the 30 4 said frame and slidably positioned in said grooves, each separator having a rear flange coextensive with the width of the separator downwardly turned at a right angle and overlying at its ends a portion of the rear face of each sidewall, a rear panel secured to said frame and overlying said rear flanges thereby locking said separators in place, the front of each separator being folded Voveron itself throughout itslength toform a reinforced front edge, saidgrooveshaving a width sufilcient to slidably receive said folded front edge, a forwardly extending sheet-metal lip underlying and spaced from said front edge on the underside of each separator and shorter than thespace between said side walls so as to permit'sliding-of said separators in said grooves, sheetemetaldrawers-of a size substantially to fill thespaces in said frame between said separators, said *sheet-metal lips corresponding in length to the inside width of said drawers, each drawer having at.its upper front edge :an inwardly extending-sheet-metal tongue adapted to enter the space between the lip and the front edge of the overlying separator, said drawers being of such length that when fully-closed their rear wallsengage said rear flanges'and their tongues are seated in the/spaces between the lips and the reinforced edges of the separators.

FRANK P. MITTEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

